The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 69

'Why are we going back into the sub?' I asked Oliver, puzzled.

It wasn't exactly like I wanted to pay my respects to the old Slade, or try to find any more Mirakuru. The cure was on the freighter, not on the submarine.

'To blow the freighter off the water,' Oliver said brutally with a vengeful smile. 'Its the only way we can get off this island. By killing Slade.'

---

'This place really gives me the creeps,' I complained as I entered the old, dark submarine.

'This sub is over 60 years old,' Anatoly observed as he jumped down into the submarine, joining Oliver, Sara, Peter and I.

The other escapees had fled, not believing we could accomplish such a task, their faith in us gone after we messed up with our plan for Hendrick and the explosives.

'It was carrying the Mirakuru during the war when it ran aground,' Sara explained.

We made our way into the next room of the submarine, following Oliver.

'Blood,' Peter pointed out the bloodstained wall of the room.

I shivered, remembering how we started off this whole Mirakuru nonsense.

'Slade's,' Oliver informed him. 'He was bleeding out, dying, until we decided to give him the Mirakuru.'

'Not one of your better ideas,' Anatoly commented.

Was it just me, or was Anatoly getting more and more aggravating?

'What about my idea for you to fix the sub?' Oliver answered back, clearing getting agitated about Anatoly's remarks too.

Sure, he was a nice person, but sometimes, Anatoly picked the worst times possible to joke around.

'You were in the Navy,' Oliver pointed out.

'The Russian Navy,' Anatoly corrected him. 'They taught us how to sink Japanese sub, not pilot them.'

'Anatoly, please,' Oliver pleaded with him in a gentler tone. 'I know it's a long shot, but if we get the sub operational, we can blow Slade and the Mirakuru out of the water and get the hell off of this island.'

'I don't know, Oliver,' I doubted his idea. 'He doesn't know how to. None of us do. It's a lot to ask-'

'I mean, unless you have a better idea, this is our only chance of getting home!' Oliver interrupted me aggressively.

'Okay, I was only saying-' I said quietly, a large contrast to the loud opinions I had shared before boarding the sub.

'Okay, I try,' Anatoly nodded, him also interrupting me.

I was seriously getting ticked off at being constantly interrupted that day.

As Anatoly walked over to the control panel, I shuffled closely to Oliver, gaining his full eye contact.

'So?' I asked, annoyed.

'What is the matter, Aria?' Oliver asked obliviously. 'You seem... different lately.'

'That's because I don't feel like you're listening to me whenever I open my mouth!' I argued my point. 'I know, the whole 'alpha male' thing kicks in when in a crisis, but seriously, I have valid points! I want to he heard!'

'I'm sorry you feel that way,' Oliver apologised at once. 'I may not seem it, but, I am listening to you. But that's not the thing I was talking about. You've... changed, Aria. Ever since you got off that freighter, you're.... tougher. I feel like you've lost some of that empathy you used to have. Like when you injected that fake Mirakuru, some of your emotions have been... inhibited.'